Seeing the Unseen Opportunities

New eyes: seeing the unseen opportunities

It is said that more millionaires are made during hard times like the depression in the 1920’s or the Global Financial Crisis for 2007-8, than during times of prosperity. Why would this be?

I remember a story about Amazon books. When other companies were laying people off and struggling with the financial crisis, Amazon books decided that they were going to do something different. They knew some people still had money. They also knew about the law of reciprocity, where if you give something to someone they will want to repay you. So Amazon books called their clients personally to see how they were going and asked what types of books they may be interested in reading. By making these calls they ended up making sales and keeping many of their clients.

Throughout my career in Hypnosis and NLP I have been surprised with the number of opportunities that just seemed to appear to help me with my business. Often, the opportunity appeared when I was in conversation with someone, and an idea arose which was the opportunity either one of us was after. From using NLP, which is a framework around communicating with others, I know that when I talk to others I need to really listen, not only to what they say, but also to my own thoughts and intentions, to hear whether there is a hidden opportunity about to show itself.

Besides listening in a different way, opportunities can be found by looking at billboards, adverts and even newsletters in a different way. Instead of just reading the advert because it is there, ask yourself before you read it “I wonder what is in this advert for me?” or whatever it is you are searching for. Then, as you read, see what you discover.

It is said that Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Of course we have heard this mentioned many times. But you will notice in the story about Amazon books, that even though they made calls to their clients, as they did in the past, they did it in a different way. Their focus and purpose was different. It was more about keeping clients than it was about making sales.

When you have struggled with success in the past, you need to do things differently. You need to be able to see with new eyes, to see the unseen opportunities.

By having clarity on your goals and letting yourself be in a state where you can imagine your goals being achieved successfully, you can then be open to seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing in a different way than you have in the past, so you can have those new eyes.

I remember getting bi-focal glasses a few years ago. When I first put them on I found it hard to see correctly. As time went on, I got more use to them. I worked out what I needed to do and where I needed to look to see objects in the distances or up close. The discomfort wore away over time.

As you start to seek opportunities with new eyes, you may find it feels uncomfortable at first. Persist and you will find that you get better at seeing past unseen opportunities, but are now there for you to see and pursue.